No Merlion in Singapore's pavilion at Venice Biennale. Is
this art?
The article is written by David Chew, TODAY

13 June 2005

SINGAPORE - What would you do if you discovered that the Merlion standing at One
Fullerton was missing?

Artist Lim Tzay Chuen predicts that this will actually revive the tenuous
relationship Singaporeans have with the mythological creature.
As part of his work for the 2005 Venice Biennale, Lim — Singapore's sole
representative at the prestigious art event — had proposed taking the 80-ton,
water-spouting structure, constructed with concrete and steel, over to the
Singapore Pavilion at Venice.

Yes, literally uprooting the statue and shipping it over to Italy.

Titled Mike — the codename used in the initial stages of Lim's project to keep
the plans secret — the plan would have seen the statue sitting in Venice for the
Biennale's six-month duration.

Interesting though the concept may be, Lim did not get approval from the
Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to shift the Merlion.

What Lim has done, instead, is to convert his allocated space into something
resembling the Singapore Visitor Centre, with information on the artist and his
work — not tourist maps — on display, and an empty courtyard where the Merlion
would have stood. The exhibit will be at the Singapore Pavilion at the Biennale
until Nov 6.

The project has since been greeted with the same divided response most of Lim's
works have generated: There are those who marvel at its cleverness, but others
who see it as plain gimmicky and pointless.

Many of his previous proposed works have been in a similar vein — most of them
technically possible, but not realised due to lack of approval. These include
slightly rotating the Salvador Dali sculpture at the UOB Bank Plaza, as well as
shooting a bullet through one of the NIE gallery's windows from the firing range
next door.

"I don't need to define to the public what ... art is all about," Lim told Today
over the telephone from the Biennale in Venice. "I do what I need to for my own
work.

"Art labels attempt to explain my job — but they aren't important."

Dr Eugene Tan, Lim's curator for the Biennale, noted that Lim's suggestion of
moving the Merlion to Venice would create two things: "Its absence here, and its
presence there (in Venice).

"So, in that sense, the impact of his art would have been felt not only in
Venice but in Singapore as well."

Unlike other cultural landmarks, such as the Esplanade, Tan said that many
Singaporeans do not think too highly of the Merlion — that it's more kitsch than
anything.

"By engineering its absence here, Tzay Chuen wanted the Merlion to enter the
consciousness of Singaporeans again," said Tan.

However, Lim's failure to make any headway in getting approval from the
authorities to move the iconic statue, as was the case with his previous works,
have led some to wonder if his work is credible — if it can even be called art
in the first place.

Some said that if Lim was really into pushing the boundaries, upon getting
rejected by the STB, he would have looked into, say, chipping off a piece of the
Merlion and taking that to Venice, rather than going empty-handed.

After all, said critics, Lim is in the very comfortable position of never having
his works realised, stopping short once he's denied permission.

If the STB had actually acceded to his request, granting the Merlion a visa for
Italy, one wonders if Lim would have started panicking ...

Said art critic Lee Weng Choy: "Tzay Chuen's work is important precisely because
he addresses this very Singaporean problem of 'can' versus 'cannot'.

"When a Singaporean artist approaches an institution with a proposal, such as
moving the Merlion to Venice, the response is to say it's impossible, that we
cannot do it.

"But Tzay Chuen's work is really less about moving the Merlion than about
getting people and institutions to change their mindsets. "It's about saying
something like: 'Well, it may seem almost impossible but, hey, let's seriously
try to make it happen.'"

Or, as Lim put it: "What's the point of doing work that is easily realised? It
is only doing something like this that sets people thinking.

"It certainly starts more dialogue more than any art hanging in galleries."

And the National Arts Council, which made the daring selection of Lim, was
supportive of his Mike proposal after making the appointment.

"I told them you chose me on the basis of my past work and it was made very
clear to them there was no Plan B, and despite their doubts and having to answer
to other agencies, they were supportive," noted Lim. - TODAY